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Prices current as of February 2023. Prices are subject to change without notice. All prices are E&OE.
In 2009 it was a wet and cold winter in Adelaide, and Ian Williams was looking for a project to keep his hands busy. The idea of a purpose designed chassis for the very popular 125 Rotax Max powered non-gearbox Superkarts seemed to be just the “Project X” that would take up that challenge.
Since the first Scorpion kart hit the track in the latter half of 2009 it has won events in every state where the NGB Superkart class is run, holds lap records across most states in all 3 of its junior and senior light + heavy classes, and taken National Championship wins in almost every year. This is the chassis that has made winning easy !!
Must mention too that chassis #1 has now been raced at over 80 race meetings, and in 2019 it won the Australian Superkart Grand Prix in the hands of young gun James Boden in the NGB Rotax light class. To keep his luck going, James has returned chassis #1 to IWT – and purchased chassis #2 from the original owner Graham Jensen. We wish him continued success in a Scorpion kart.
To continue the long history of chassis #1 , in 2021 we loaned it to a young Jack Sweczuk. In his first ever race meeting in a Superkart, he smashed the Mallala Junior class lap record that had been held since 2012 by Ant Rugolo … in the same chassis … and by a whopping 9/10ths of a second.
Credit for the Scorpion design goes to Ant Rugolo and Geoff King who both had a big part in the initial design and first chassis build, and Michael Bishop of Twister water skis for his fibreglass products, and the now retired Bruce Benson who wished me luck while being gracious enough to supply the parts we could not make at IWT. And to Gavin Newman for ensuring the following 30 chassis have been made to such a high standard.
Also to the ancillary parts suppliers … Arrow karts for the rolling components …. Edwards wheels for all the alloy parts …. Steve Dent for the awesome 4 spot brakes …. and my friend Azeem for the colourful team driving suits.
The simple things are what makes the Scorpion so good, in all weather and on all tracks there is minimal setup change required, even from junior to senior or light to heavy classes, the karts stay relatively unchanged.
– Front track use 5mm or 10mm spacer inside the bearing type Futura front wheels
– Rear track is 1260mm to 1265mm
– Maxxis HG3 tyre pressure is 12psi cold
– Front stub axles are 17mm diameter
– Front ride height is in the middle
– Rear ride height is high (axle carriers down at the bottom)
– Rear axle is 40mm Medium Arrow
– Steering is set with no ackerman on the steering column
– Front toe-in or toe-out is zero , ie straight ahead
– Front camber is zero to +2mm total … both toe and camber measured/set when on the trolley
– Minimum front caster
– All alloy rims generally, Edwards Futura with bearing type fronts. They keep the heat in the tyres
– All 4 wheels must be balanced always.
Drivers have used magnesium rims, as well as magnesium rear hubs , usually just for weight saving.
A few have used bolt-on front rims but that requires the narrowest 50/55mm wide front hubs .
Heavy class drivers have used a hard Arrow axle, but only the experienced AKA drivers liked it.
50mm axle setups have now been run successfully. They make no difference to a 40mm setup but for those swapping running gear from an Arrow sprint kart it is an option.
25mm front stub axles are now used , mostly because of a lack of availability of 17mm ones, and there has been no perceived difference.
New rolling Superkart chassis comes with a seat, nosecone and tyres.
Delivery in your choice of colour is approximately 6 weeks.
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